1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and a method for quality management of a component, where the component may be either a single part or a unit made up of a plurality of parts.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional quality management of components will be described with reference to FIG. 10.
Terminals 133-1, 133-2, 133-3 are connected to a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 131. Storage means 132-1, 132-2, 132-3, 132-4 are also connected to the CPU 131.
As one example, information of components to be used is registered in and managed using data base 132. Model numbers, maker names and other data of components of a given product are managed as quality information. When a change in a component occurs due to a design change, past records of specification changes and so on are registered as quality information in the data base for management. The data registered in the data base is searched from the terminals 133-1, 133-2, 133-3, and operators can obtain required information. Results of production programs processed by the CPU 131 are outputted as order instructions to the terminals 133-1, 133-2, 133-3. A process flow from a production program to ordering will be described below with reference to FIG. 11.
Steps 1101 to 1108 indicate a process flow of conventional component ordering. Step 1101 manages the production program of a product. For example, the program is inputted by using the terminal 133-1 shown in FIG. 10. The program includes instructions specifying how many parts and units are to be manufactured and when they are to be manufactured.
In step 1102, classification of components used (development of components) is performed based on component data 1106. A data base 1104 manages working information (such as the number of days and the procedures required for working) necessary for the component development, and is referred to at the time of executing the component development. The number of required components calculated in step 1103 is compared with the number of stocked components registered in an inventory data base 1107 to calculate the number of components to be purchased and the delivery day of the components (order program 1109). Calculated results are outputted as component orders to be displayed at the terminal or printed on sheets (1108).
A flow of an xe2x80x9cordered substancexe2x80x9d will now be described with reference to FIG. 12. Assume that a product xe2x80x9cBodyxe2x80x9d is ordered. The xe2x80x9cBodyxe2x80x9d comprises four units xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cBxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cDxe2x80x9d, and the unit xe2x80x9cDxe2x80x9d is made up of four parts xe2x80x9caxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cbxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9ccxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cdxe2x80x9d. The model number, maker name, etc. for each of the parts provide quality information, and data of the entire product (xe2x80x9cBodyxe2x80x9d) is managed with the quality information of the included part levels linked in the form of a string.
For example, in the case of manufacturing the product xe2x80x9cBodyxe2x80x9d in a quantity of 1000, if any component (unit or part) is changed during the course of production, the quality information may no longer match the product that is actually produced. Assuming that a given component is changed at the 499-th xe2x80x9cBodyxe2x80x9d, it may be difficult to identify the 499-th xe2x80x9cBodyxe2x80x9d in the field of production in many cases. When a component is assembled through a plurality of work units (called shops hereinafter), it can be even more difficult to identify the affected component because of intermediate preparation and transportation between the shops.
Consider the case where the part xe2x80x9cdxe2x80x9d is replaced by xe2x80x9cd-1xe2x80x9d in the part d manufacturing shop 1203. The two parts have the same rated specification, and are both supplied to the unit D manufacturing shop 1202. The unit D (made up of the parts a, b, c and d) and the unit D-1 (made up of the parts a, b, c and d-1) have the same function, but will have different quality information. It is therefore essential to manage the quality information in matched relation to the products that are actually produced, which will be referred to herein as information/substance matching.
However, where the changed part is transferred through different shops, e.g., the part manufacturing shop 1203 to the unit manufacturing shop 1202 to the xe2x80x9cBodyxe2x80x9d assembling shop 1201, as shown in FIG. 12, performing information/substance matching (i.e., managing the pre-change quality information and the post-change quality information in matched relation with any given unit or body) is difficult in many cases.
If a working process is limited to one shop, component management including component collation can be performed by the conventional system (FIG. 10). It is however difficult for a system to maintain information and substance in matched relation through a plurality of shops.
More specifically, shops provided with the terminals 133-1, 133-2, 133-3, as shown in FIG. 10, can refer to information in the data base 132, because of the connection through the CPU 131. However, in a conventional system, the information in the data base is maintained on the basis of the ordering time. Where a given substance is transferred (delivered) between shops, therefore, it is difficult to update quality information subsequent to the transfer of the substance, since there is no uniquely determined relationship between a given substance delivered from one shop to another and the data base information maintained on the basis of the ordering time.
One of the reasons why there is no uniquely determined relationship between information and substance is the presence of variations in production lead time due to changes of shop loads, intermediate preparations, and transportation between the shops.
Apart from matching information and substance as described above, it is also often important for a person engaged in information management to know the position of a given substance and information regarding that substance at an appropriate point in time. For example, in the case of carrying out a quality inspection of the part xe2x80x9cd-1xe2x80x9d that has been substituted for the part xe2x80x9cdxe2x80x9d due to a design change, or in the case of carrying out a performance test of the unit xe2x80x9cD-1xe2x80x9d using the part xe2x80x9cd-1xe2x80x9d, persons engaged in departments of design, quality management, etc. may need to know about the arrival of the changed substance at an appropriate point in time. Conventionally, those persons would only become aware of the arrival of the changed substance upon receiving a notice from the part receiving department or by searching a data base to determine whether the changed substance has been delivered.
Thus quality management of components according to the related art has had the problems below. Because component information was conventionally maintained on the basis of the ordering time, when any component used in a design was changed, component information at the ordering time could not be correctly correlated to component information of the changed component at delivery time if the changed component was transferred through different working areas. It has therefore been difficult to manage information and substance in matched relation. Also, in connection with quality inspections and performance tests of delivered components, it was not easy to determine when the substance subjected to the design change would arrive, and the arrival of the objective substance has been mainly left up to persons from the component receiving department in the production site. Accordingly, it was easy to miss a required inspection or test.
A primary object of the present invention is to solve the problems mentioned above.
To achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for managing quality information of a component. The system includes: (a) first input means for inputting quality information of an ordered component; (b) storage means for storing the quality information of the ordered component; (c) second input means for inputting quality information of a delivered component; (d) check means for checking the quality information of the delivered component by checking data maintained in a matched relationship with the delivered component; (e) update means for updating the quality information loaded in the storage means with the quality information of the delivered component in accordance with a check result from the check means; and (f) transmission means for transmitting the updated quality information to a terminal provided in a shop using the component.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for managing quality information of a component. The method includes the steps of: (a) inputting quality information of an ordered component; (b) storing the quality information of the ordered component; (c) inputting quality information of a delivered component; (d) checking the inputted quality information of the delivered component by checking data maintained in a matched relationship with the delivered component; (e) updating the quality information stored in the storing step with the quality information of the delivered component in accordance with a result of the checking result; and (f) transmitting the updated quality information to a terminal provided in a shop using the component.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage medium upon which computer executable process steps for managing quality information of a component are stored. The stored steps include: (a) storing quality information of an ordered component in storage means; (b) inputting quality information of a delivered component; (c) checking the inputted quality information of the delivered component by checking data maintained in a matched relationship with the delivered component; (d) updating the quality information stored in the storage means in accordance with a result of the checking step; and (e) transmitting the updated quality information to a terminal provided in a shop using the component.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for managing quality information of a component. The system includes: (a) first input means for inputting quality information of an ordered component; (b) storage means for storing the quality information of the ordered component; (c) second input means for inputting quality information of a delivered component; (d) check means for checking the quality information of the delivered component by checking data maintained in a matched relationship with the delivered component; and (e) inform means for informing delivery of the component in response to an input of the quality information made by the second input means.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for managing quality information of a component. The method includes the steps of: (a) storing quality information of an ordered component; (b) inputting quality information of a delivered component; (c) checking the inputted quality information of the delivered component by checking data maintained in a matched relationship with the delivered component; and (d) informing delivery of the component in response to an input of the quality information of the delivered component.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage medium upon which computer executable process steps for managing quality information of a component are stored. The stored steps include: (a) storing quality information of an ordered component in storage means; (b) inputting quality information of a delivered component; (c) checking the inputted quality information of the delivered component by checking data maintained in a matched relationship with the delivered component; and (d) informing delivery of the component in response to an input of the quality information of the delivered component.
Other objects and features of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description and the attached drawings.